Former Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole feels that it is surprising that Romelu Lukaku pushed for a return to Inter just one season after he made the big money move to Chelsea last summer.
Speaking to UK news outlet the Mirror, the former England international gave his thoughts on the surprise return of the Belgian to the Nerazzurri on loan this summer.
Lukaku made the switch to Chelsea last summer in one of the highest-profile deals of the entire transfer window, but the Belgian never quite seemed to settle in in the London capital considering the expectations that were placed based on his Inter form and the size of his transfer fee.
It didn’t take too long for some discontent to filter out, with the striker having admitted candidly in an interview towards the end of 2021 that he was hoping to make the return to the Nerazzurri.
In the end, a return that had at one seemed improbable if not impossible took place, but Cole is surprised at Lukaku’s motivations.
“I’m surprised from his [Lukaku] perspective that he wanted to go back to Inter Milan,” he said. “I think he’s clearly a top player – we’ve seen it before, he’s a fantastic player – and for everyone to go ‘enough is enough’ and cut the losses effectively was quite surprising.”
He continued that “He’s young enough to have hung around and show he can do it in the Premier League which he’s shown he can, he’s scored goals here before.”
“[I] wish him all the very best at Inter Milan – he’s been at Chelsea twice and Chelsea fans will send him on his way with their best wishes and hopefully it will work out for all parties,” Cole concluded.
